Philosophy, Politics and International Relations

How should you live your life and relate to others? What is the theoretical basis of different political and governance systems? How do they work in practice, and how should they work? What are today’s big ethical, social, and political challenges and how should we approach them? How should characteristics like gender and race be taken into account in theoretical inquiry and social decision-making? With our Philosophy, Politics and International Relations (BA) programme, you’ll investigate important questions at the intersection of philosophy, politics and international relations, along with other topics from each of these disciplines.

We’ll help you develop into a global citizen and a thinker in your own right. You’ll be supported in engaging critically and creatively with difficult problems in an open-minded way, including on sensitive and controversial topics.

You’ll have the opportunity to explore a broad range of philosophical and political topics and traditions. You’ll develop a solid grounding in moral philosophy, will also study epistemology, philosophy of mind, and political philosophy, and will have the opportunity to study areas such as aesthetics, feminist philosophy, and phenomenology.

Through your studies, you’ll have access to a wide range of fascinating politics and international relations topics, from close study of institutions at the state and sub-state level to wide examination of politics at the global level. This includes themes such as justice, governance, conflict, populism, security and gender. You can explore how parliaments and governments function and investigate how politics works in Wales, the UK, Europe, and across the globe. Together, we’ll evaluate key political ideas such as power, freedom, rights, conflict, accountability, democracy, and legitimacy.

Our modules are carefully designed to provide you with opportunities to connect theory with practice and you’ll benefit from our extensive links to Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament and other political institutions in the UK and beyond.

You’ll graduate with a range of valuable professional skills, including collaboration, effective communication, and independent critical thinking. With a deep appreciation of the ethical and social challenges that face contemporary society and industry, you’ll also have the ideas and gained the confidence to help solve them. From here, you’ll be ideally placed to progress into a range of exciting careers.

Distinctive Features of the Programme
• Follow your interests: Study a range of philosophical and political topics, trace connections to other disciplines, and engage with new research.
• Think for yourself: Critically and creatively engage with difficult problems in an independent and open-minded way.
• Study current global issues: Choose modules ranging from cyber security and nuclear politics to climate change and feminism.
• Shape the future: Apply research to develop policies or strategies aimed at solving real-world social problems.
• Politically-connected: Benefit from excellent links to Westminster parliament, Senedd Cymru, the European Union, and NATO.